A significance of smart city pilot policies in China for enhancing carbon emission efficiency in construction.

The Chinese government seeks to promote economic growth and sustainable development while achieving carbon neutrality by establishing phased smart city pilots. Therefore, it is important to study whether smart city pilots can promote carbon emission efficiency (CEE). This paper constructs a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model based on panel data from 241 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, aiming to investigate the mechanism of the impact of smart city pilot policies (SCPP) on CEE and whether there is a rebound effect. The study found that smart city construction (SCC) significantly improves carbon efficiency, with pilot cities increasing their CEE by 1.4% compared to non-pilot cities. The conclusions remain robust under a variety of scenarios including the introduction of placebo tests, counterfactual tests, sample data screening, and omitted variable tests. The results of the mechanism test show that although the rebound effect can inhibit the improvement of CEE, the environment can be improved and the CEE can be enhanced through green technology innovation, industrial structure upgrading, energy structure optimization, environmental regulation effect, information technology support, and resource allocation effect. The heterogeneity results indicate that the SCPP is more effective in promoting CEE in cities in the eastern region, southern cities, environmentally friendly cities, large cities, and medium-sized cities. This study contributes to the existing literature in clarifying the environmental benefits of SCPP and provides valuable policy insights for cities to address climate change and sustainable development.